It’s a really exciting time when you’ve invested in a personal branding shoot and you know you’re committing to your business. Maybe you have this idea in your head about having all the photos on your computer ready to update your website and socials, but have you really thought about how they get there?
There is nothing that is worse than the regret when you realise after your shoot that you wanted this one photo that you forgot to ask for, or a week later realising you should have thought to ask for a photo of you at you desk (or whatever else it is!)
So how do you stop this happening?
Prepare for your personal branding shoot thoroughly!
It’s not just thinking about what you want to do at your shoot, you have to think way further ahead than that!
What are you doing for the next 12 months? For example, are you launching any new courses and what photos would you need for that process? What blogs do you think you’ll be writing and do you need any photos for those? What are your social media content pillars and what photos fit within that messaging? Do you have any seasonal trends that you need different pictures for?
For example, the wonderful Carli of Synergy Business Success followed this advice and planned her shoot to perfection.
What is coming up in your business?
Carli knew that she would be launching a course (but not for at least 4 months after our shoot so it’d be easy to have not thought far enough forward!) so would need imagery around launching.
Things that you may need for course launching: showing frustration / pain points, and the results of working with you, success for signing up, backgrounds for text, images with space for text etc.
Want all the details on Hertfordshire branding photoshoots and how it can help your business grow? You’ll find all the information and more photo examples on that link.
Do you have any seasonal trends?
Do you want to change your clothes for more summery or winter looks? Do you always have a big Christmas campaign for example and are you going to wish you had an on-brand photo wearing a Santa hat or similar? Although it might seem hard to think about these things when the sun is baking down on you, it’s worth thinking ahead if you can.
What blogs and social media content have you got in the pipeline?
Have you got well defined social media content pillars and do you know what you’ll be blogging about in the coming months?
Again, it can feel hard to think about all of these things, but it can really pay dividends. If you know you want to talk about ‘work smarter, not harder’ for example, then having a photo of you at your desk would be handy.
Similarly, if you want to educated about working with you then make sure you prepare like Carli did and have friends on hand to stand in in your photos. She works with both individuals and groups so it made sense to have people around to show both sides of her business through photos.
Better preparation = better branding photos
When I sent Carli the gallery of her photos, she came back and said “in my mind I have a use for every one of those!” because she’d done her research, planned well and prepared me thoroughly. After my pre-shoot chat, she told me what she’d want from the photos, how she would use them and what kind of photos specifically she would need for the next 12 months.
With a bit of careful preparation, you can definitely make your investment in a branding shoot last longer!
If you need some updated personal branding photos to represent your photos then check out my Hertfordshire personal branding gallery for awesome businesses. I help businesses in St Albans, Hertfordshire and further afield and I’d be delighted to talk about how I can elevate your photos and help you grow your online presence. Let’s chat!
